Bathgate, A [Icor Tales 01] They Came By Night by Andrew Bathgate

Author:Andrew Bathgate
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2021-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

Sam

The Central Pass, July 14

Captain Tar inspected the weapons Tom had taken from the Northman. He brought the sword down onto a Southern shield, splitting it with such ease it made Sam wince.

“This is magic I haven’t heard of,” Tar said. “How many of them did you get?”

“About twenty-five,” Tom said. “Captain Baracc said they were able to get thirty, but they lost over a hundred men to raids.”

“We only have fifty-five men with weapons and armor equal to the North’s, and they number fifteen thousand, at least,” Captain Tar said.

“This pass gives us a lot of advantages,” Tom said. “Instead of just firing arrows, that won’t pierce their armor, we can drop rocks from the parapets. I ordered my men to start stacking rocks on the ledge the moment I got to the pass.”

Sam noted that his father didn’t mention how he had first made sure his own wagon train had made it through the pass. Sam knew his father didn’t want to fight without knowing his family was safe.

“Look at this mess,” Captain Tar said, pointing to the pass. “We’ve made little progress over the last two days, fortunately the Northern horde have decided to rest before attacking.”

There were so many people, wagons, and animals trying to get through the pass that it was clogged, and a barricade was being built at the front and another one eight hundred strides within the pass, which further clogged it.

Tom, with Baracc’s permission, had assigned Red to lead a group of Baracc’s militia to help with the task of physically moving refugees out of the kill zone between the barricades.

Starting at the front barricade, they pulled refugees off wagons, put them on the backs of their horses, and rode with them to the rear barricade. The empty wagons were then used to either reinforce the barricade or provide obstructions.

Tom heard a noise from the forest and saw militiamen running from it.

“They’ve broken camp! They’re advancing!” they shouted.

“Well, that’s it, time’s up,” Tar said to his officers. “Get your men in position now. Close up the barricade and pour the oil on it.”

Every man with Northern armor and weapons was manning the front barricade.

Refugees desperately tried to squeeze into the pass before it was closed. Sam saw a father hand pushing his small son over the barricade and then clambering over it himself. Some refugees followed the man’s examples, but most decided it was time to run either east or west.

Red rode up to a wagon with a woman holding a screaming baby in it.

“Grab your food supplies, I’m taking you to the rear barricade now,” shouted Red.

“You heartless monsters!” the woman screamed.

“Sorry, ma’am, we have to get you out of here,” Red said. He leaned down from his horse to grab her around the waist.

Still holding the baby, the woman was able to lay a solid left hook on Red’s jaw. He ignored it, pulled her up to be behind him and then grabbed her bag of food.

“Damn!” he said feeling his jaw, but gave the two a ride to the rear barricade.

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